


A Different Side Of Him

by RedShirtWriter34567



Category: Broadchurch, Masters of Sex
Genre: Babies, Cuddling & Snuggling, Husbands, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Late Night Conversations, M/M, Sweet, Tenderness, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:22:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26173423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedShirtWriter34567/pseuds/RedShirtWriter34567
Summary: Bill gets a call from Ellie telling him to come to the station, where he sees Alec showing a very different part of himself.
Relationships: Alec Hardy/William Masters
Comments: 11
Kudos: 51





	A Different Side Of Him

Bill was gathering his things and preparing to leave the hospital when his cellphone started ringing in his jacket pocket. He took it out and examined the flashing screen. It was Ellie. Bill raised his eyebrows. She didn’t call him very often unless it concerned Alec. Worried, Bill answered and brought the phone to his ear.

“Ellie?” he asked.

“Bill?” she returned. “Where are you right now?”

“I’m at the hospital. My shift just ended,” Bill replied. “Why? What’s going on?”

“Come to the station quickly,” she told him. “There’s something you need to see.”

Bill felt his heart clench in his chest. “Is it Alec? Did something happen?”

“I’ll show you when you get here,” Ellie said. “Just come here, okay?’

She hung up before Bill could say anything else. Puzzled yet intrigued, Bill picked up the rest of his things, clocked out, walked outside to the parking lot and got into his car. He started it, but he was so unnerved by what Ellie had said that he tried to call Alec before leaving. It went to his voicemail after several rings and Bill licked his lips nervously. He drove to the station and arrived in ten minutes. He entered and made a beeline to Alec’s office.

As he approached it, he noticed that several people were looking in the same direction of the office, whispering amongst themselves and looking awed and confused. Bill arched his eyebrows at the odd behavior. Ellie was also looking into Alec’s office through the window on the door, smiling to herself. She didn’t look confused or shocked like the others. Bill lingered by a cubicle and cleared his throat to get her attention. 

“Bill, you’re here,” she said, hurrying over to him.

“Yes, what’s going on?” he asked. “Why is everyone including you looking into Alec’s office? Is he alright?”

“Come here and see for yourself,” Ellie replied, taking him gently by the arm and leading him over to the office door.

Bill looked at her strangely but she nodded encouragingly. Bill rolled his eyes a little and looked through the window into the office. Alec was sitting behind his desk, but rather than pouring over paperwork or mindlessly staring at his computer, he was leaning back, smiling gently down at the small bundle in his arms. His lips were moving as he carefully cradled the bundle against his chest. Bill spotted a tiny hand reaching up and grabbing onto Alec’s tie, and the detective seemed to chuckle softly in response.

“Is that a baby?” Bill asked. “Whose is it?”

“We don’t know yet,” Ellie admitted. “Alec and I found her in a parked car near a drugstore. He freaked out and broke one of the windows. He took her out and luckily, she was still alive and didn’t seem to be sick. We’re running the car’s plate to see if we can find the parents.”

“Are the parents really the best option?” Bill asked.

“Maybe not, but it’s the only thing we can do now,” Ellie replied. “Alec’s grown rather attached to her, as you can see.”

Bill laughed under his breath. “I noticed.” He looked around at the others still watching. “What’s their problem?”

“They’ve never seen Alec like that before,” Ellie explained with a shrug. “Sure he’s mellowed out a lot since you guys met, but we’ve never seen him so…..calm. Sweet, even.”

Bill figured that was a fair point. He watched as Alec continued to coo over the infant, a smile on his lips.

“You should go in there,” Ellie urged Bill. “You’ve never seen him like this either, have you?”

“No, I haven’t,” Bill agreed. 

He placed his hand on the doorknob and slowly turned it, entering the room quietly. Alec looked up from the baby and grinned. 

“Hey,” he said. “What are you doing here?”

“Ellie called me,” Bill explained. “She told me that this was something I should see.”

Alec scoffed and rolled his eyes. “She’s daft. Are the others still gawking out there?”

Bill nodded and came closer to his husband. Alec adjusted the infant in his arms. She was wrapped in a pink blanket and had dark hair with brown eyes that looked up at Alec with such wonder and curiosity. She cooed happily as she reached up and gripped his tie in her little hand. Alec laughed and tickled her lightly, making her giggle. Bill smiled at the sight, but it faded when he noticed the scratches on Alec;s hand, mostly on his knuckles.

“What happened to your hand?” Bill asked, concerned.

Alec looked at it and sighed. “I scratched it up when I broke the car window. I used a rock but caught some of the glass anyway.”  


“I see,” Bill said.

He always knew that Alec had a soft side to him, especially when children were concerned. But seeing him cooing over and holding the infant girl stirred something warm in Bill’s chest. Alec’s brown eyes were warmer than melted chocolate, shining as he sang softly under his breath. A ray of sunlight shone into the room and haloed his brown hair. At one point, when the baby began to cry, Alec stood up from his desk and walked in slow circles around the room, humming and rocking the infant until she settled.

“Where did you learn that?” Bill asked in amazement.

“I used to do that when Daisy was a baby,” Alec explained. “It always helped her calm down.” He looked down at the now sleeping infant. “Do you want to hold her?”

“Um, no thanks,” Bill replied. “I’m not exactly what you’d call ‘good with children’ and I think she likes you better anyway.”

Alec arched an eyebrow but didn’t press. Bill had always considered himself not the best with children, despite that fact that he was a father and also delivered children as part of his job. But his own children didn’t want anything to do with him, hadn't since the divorce and his moving to Broadchurch. He didn’t exactly blame them either. But he did still miss them. At least Alec still got to see and be a part of his daughter’s life. Bill watched Alec interact with the infant for a long time. She was asleep now and Alec sat back down at his desk, a warmth and tenderness in his eyes and face that Bill had never seen before.

A little later, the baby’s parents showed up. It had turned out that the car the child had been found in belonged to an uncle who was supposed to have been watching her. The mother, a petite woman with long black hair, tearfully thanked Alec when he walked out with her daughter still asleep in his arms.

“Thank you so much, sir,” she said, wiping at her eyes. “I don’t know how to repay you.”

“It was no trouble,” Alec told her.

The baby stirred in his arms and made a happy sound, hands reached out towards her parents. Bill noticed that Alec seemed a tad reluctant to let her go, but did nonetheless. The woman sighed as she took her daughter into her arms again and her husband kissed her forehead. 

“Thank you for saving our little girl,” he told Alec. “We owe you a great deal.”

“You’re welcome” Alec replied, sticking his hands in his pockets. “What’s your daughter’s name, if I may ask?”

“Emily,” the mother replied.

“That’s pretty name,” Alec said.

The parents grinned and thanked him once again, then left the station. Alec and Bill left too and returned home. Bill noticed that Alec had gotten kind of quiet as they ate dinner and attended to their usual evening routine.

“Are you okay?” Bill asked once they were in bed. He propped himself on one elbow and stared at Alec. “You’ve been pensive since we left the station.”

Alec sighed and placed one arm beneath his head, studying the ceiling. “I’m fine, I just, it’s been a while since I’ve had that. A child, I guess. Daisy’s so grown-up now and she’s got all these friends and activities. Sometimes it’s like she doesn’t really need me anymore.”

“She’ll always need you Alec,” Bill said, placing a hand on his husband’s chest. “You’re her father.”

“I know that, but,” Alec replied. He paused, chewing his lower lip. “Sometimes I wish I could have another chance to be a father again, you know? I love Daisy and when me and Tess were married we talked about having a second child, but then Sandbrook happened and well, everything else happened too.”

He looked at Bill. “Do you sometimes wish you could have a second chance?”

Bill froze and considered his answer. In the early days of his divorce he’d pined for both Libby and Virginia and his children. But neither wanted anything to do with him. He’d ached for months at the thought of having another chance to do things right, but eventually he made his peace with the past and moved on.

“I don’t know,” he finally told Alec. “It would be nice to rekindle things with my kids or try to be a father again, but I just don’t know.”

Alec seemed to ponder that for a few minutes. Bill felt like he could sense something in his husband’s demeanor change before Alec kissed him on the lips and switched off the lamp on the side table. He laid down on his side facing Bill and closed his eyes.

“Goodnight, Bill,” he said. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Bill replied. “Are you alright?”

Alec didn’t answer. He was either already asleep or avoiding the question. Bill figured it was probably the latter and laid down as well, but it took him a long time to fall asleep as one question kept floating around in his mind. Could he be a father again?

**Author's Note:**

> What do you guys say? Should I make the Illogical Husbands Illogical Dads?


End file.
